John Tierney scrambles to save House career

Tainted by a gambling ring scandal that landed his wife and brother-in-law in prison, Democratic Rep. John Tierney is scrambling for his political life. And he’s finding lots of support from top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who are determined to help a close ally and prevent a safe seat from slipping into GOP hands.

The support mission for Tierney — facing the toughest reelection race of his eight-term House career — kicked into high gear on Wednesday when Tierney called a meeting of the all-Democrat Massachusetts House delegation to lay out his campaign strategy, several sources said. Also convening the meeting was Rep. Ed Markey, the dean of the Bay State delegation.

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Tierney “outlined what he was going to be doing, he outlined sort of a substantial fundraising lead and he asked everybody for support, and they all said, ‘We’re behind you,’” said a congressional aide familiar with the meeting.

“We all pledged to support him, we all pledged to raise money for him,” said a Democratic lawmaker who attended the session. “Everybody knows he’s in a race; there’s no lying about that. John is doing everything that he needs to do. Everybody that should be backing him is backing him. … There’s concern, that’s for sure.”

Tierney’s office did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment on the meeting.

For Tierney, political and financial support from his Democratic colleagues has never been more critical. Tierney has raised nearly $130,000 from fellow House Democrats this cycle, one-tenth of his overall campaign fundraising haul. That total includes $14,000 from Pelosi’s reelection committee and leadership PAC, campaign records show.

“Leader Pelosi supports Congressman Tierney and looks forward to serving with him in the majority in the 113th Congress,” said Nadeam Elshami, Pelosi’s spokesman.

Christine Pelosi, daughter of the Democratic leader, served as Tierney’s chief of staff and legislative director.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut and other top House Democrats — especially progressives and Pelosi confidants — have also cut checks for Tierney.

Tierney is being challenged by former Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, who has made the Tierney family ethics issues a theme of his campaign.

Patrice Tierney, the congressman’s wife, pleaded guilty in 2010 to filing false tax returns, saying she was “willfully blind” to the source of millions of dollars in illegal gambling funds from an offshore operation run by her two brothers, Robert and Daniel Eremian. Patrice Tierney managed a checking account for Robert Eremian through which as much as $7 million in proceeds from the illicit gambling ring flowed. And she helped prepare false tax returns for him, according to her plea agreement with the Justice Department.

Readers' Comments (15)

He's safe. Corruption is a way of life for democrats. Pelosi lined her pockets. Curley was elected mayor of Boston (I think) while he was in jail. Republicans must toe the line or be forced to resign. Not so the democrats.

Whenever I read an article like this about a corrupt Democrat, I am reminded how lucky we are to have a right-wing blogosphere. Prior to about the year 2000, left-wing publications like NYT, WaPo, etc. simply did not report on scandals involving Democrats, especially liberals. There was constant hushing up of scandals involving the now-dead liberal paedophile Gerry Studds (abuse of underage pages), Barney Frank, etc. It is now hilarious to encounter readers of NYT, which still likes to hush things up as they did in the good old days, who are completely ignorant of Obama'S thuggish Chicago past, Jeremiah Wright, etc.

Also hilarious to see Politico forced to report on sleazy illegal behavior of "civil rights icons," "gay heros" etc., not because Politico wants to report but because Politico looks so ridiculous when everybody heads to Drudge etc. to get the stories, like this one, that Politico just wishes would go away, as they did in the old days.

If this dude was not a donkey.....we would see a mention every night on BSDNC calling for his resignation, then Politico would report what happened on BSDNC as news....then a few quotes from Slimy Career Donkeys......Huff Huff would join in.....and when he resigned....they would cut into afternoon programming to show it live.... Taxes can't disgrace Donkey....you need a little perversion thrown in so the MSM will cover it...

The headline says it all: A house seat should never be a "career." No congressmember should ever be worried about reelection. This public service should be just that. Minimal benefits. Term limits set at three.

"While Tierney would normally be expected to cruise in the heavily Democratic 6th District, Tisei is an openly gay, pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion rights Republican who can appeal to liberal voters (from article)."

And the GOP is contributing to this guy, why?

He sounds like a Democrat. On principle, I couldn't support Tisei. There'd be no difference that what it is in there now.

Why you ask? Because the leadership of the Republican party (Boehner, Cantor, etc.) want nothing more than to maintain their hold on power, principles be damned. If they can "take" this "safe" Democratic seat out of the D column, that's just icing on the cake.

The real take away from this article is that the self-serving ambitions of career politicians supersede all else. Democrats are no different. This is evidence that our political process is corrupted and corrupting. They win, we lose.

John Tierney deleted my posts about Americans abroad from his Facebook page, did not respond to my messages and prohibited me from posting any further. I would certainly never vote for this individual.